Martin's weather blog: Wednesday

Morning all,

I'm afraid I haven't got much time to blog this morning as I'm off to investigate what wildlife lives in the Thames.

So here are the headlines for the weather:

Today

Turning drier and brighter this afternoon. Clearer skies tonight so it will be chilly.

Tomorrow

Patchy cloud first thing. Turning sunny and bright in the afternoon with highs of 9 degrees. Some drizzle overnight.

We won't get official February weather stats until tomorrow morning but here is a synopsis written by my colleague Margaret at the MET Office...

"The first part of February was mostly rather cold, with winds coming from 'mild' directions only for short periods, but without as much widespread snowfall as experienced in January. Snowfall has been no more than would be expected in a typical winter.

"High pressure has been much more dominant during the second half of the month, possibly the longest 'blocked' spell, as it is called, for a year or more. It was almost spring-like briefly at mid-month, since which a cold feed of easterly winds has been established. On the positive side, little precipitation has fallen since mid-month. The south has remained overcast and grey in the last few days, while Scotland has had sunshine.

"UK temperatures for February so far have been somewhat below normal once again.

February rainfall has been rather below normal for most areas, with the exception of a band from Northern Ireland south-eastwards all the way to London.

"Sunshine has again been generally limited for most of England, but plentiful over western parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland; in fact Northern Scotland is likely to end up ranked in the top 10 sunniest Februaries in our series back to 1911."

Tune in to ITV London at 6pm tonight to see my report on Thames wildlife and an adorable video of a seal playing with a Labrador in Greenwich.

See you later

Martin